I work for a moving company whose phones are ringing every day with new clients. Sometimes while I'm talking to one new client, two others have called and left messages.
I'm trying furiously to get them all into the pipeline, and get each new client's specific project needs met. But it's been very challenging to keep track of everything and not fall behind or have things fall through the cracks.
We're moving multiple people every day M-F. At any one time we have 10, 20, maybe 40 jobs in the pipeline. Each one is a different client, with their own unique project needs and time lines associated with them.
But as I'm working with today's 4 new clients, I may be forgetting about the needs of yesterday's 3 new clients.
How can I keep track of so many clients, and so many tasks that each client needs done by a certain day? Without letting anything fall through the cracks?
The owner is great at this, but when I asked how they do it they just said "It's all in my head."
I'm thinking there has to be a better way than just having everything in the owner's head.
I want to help the owner by managing these projects myself. And possibly grow the business by finding ways of managing more and more projects. But I'm not as good keeping them all straight "in my head."
I'm looking for tools and methods to keep track of these extremely detailed, extremely fast-paced projects. Ideally something that's scalable. Do you have any ideas? Saving Changes...
This question would probably be better discussed over the phone or in person, but I'll try my best to assist you. First off, good job in wanting to do a good job!!
It seems to me like your dealing with more of an administrative issue than a project based one but let's see what we can figure out.
First off, it seems to me like you don't have an established ERP system or any order tracking software. If this is the case, then I would first suggest that you search different open sources systems that you could use for yourself.
Take a look at this link for more information-- https://digital.com/blog/open-source-business/
Software is a brain saver!
Personally, I have a horrible memory, so I have to rely of software programs to remember what I can't.
Another option would be to develop a simple "online" excel (or google sheets) spread sheet. I would personally have 5 simple column categories.
1. Client Name / Contact info
2. Date of requested move
3. Move from Address
4. Move to Address
5. Special request
I say "online" because than you can access it whenever or where ever you are.
Additionally, what I would is convince your boss to hire a receptionist / order taker. If you are so busy that people are leaving messages, there should be room in the budget to acquire more resources.
Also, don't feel too upset if your not able to get all your work completed on time. It's way more important to organize the jobs of the clients that you talk to first than to immediately move on to the next client. Keep in mind, clients that you talk to know that you understand their needs, as for the ones that left messages are not even sure if anyone even heard the message.
If everyone is a priority than no one is!
If you want, please send me a direct email and I can assist you further. :) Saving Changes...
It sounds like you could use some sort of Kanban system to visualize flow and to establish the frequency for when you review it, such as today's work, 2 week look-ahead, and quarterly look-ahead. It can be implemented as simply as finding a large wall where you can start hanging sticky-notes and pieces of paper. Yarn or tape can divide it into rows and columns.
They might be extremely detailed projects, but you don't need all the details for every project every day. You can separate the visualization of everything flowing through your process, from the specific details of what happens with each one, and know when you will need to address all those details. Saving Changes...
